vBulletin Plugin Suggestions

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Lvcoyote
I was a Moderator at the abit forums for years, and am currently an Administrator at The Raptor Pit Forums, so I have a little experience. You definitely do not want anyone but Moderators to be able to delete threads, or move them. If a member posts in the wrong section or wants something deleted he should contact a Moderator to do it for him. What we found is that people would come in, ask their question and get some great responses, then for whatever reason would delete the thread after a solution was found. We lost some good information before we implemented the "no delete" options. You also want to implement a time limit for editing posts, 3 days seemed to work well for us.

A few other good ideas are to put a post limit on the For Sale/WTB section of at least 50 posts to be able to participate. This really cuts down on the trolls, they wont bother making 50 posts in the forums just to be able to list items in the For Sale section. Implementing a rep system is a bad idea, your Moderators will be flooded with user requests to remove stupid reps from their accounts, its the most abused option there is. A "Thanked" system is much better, the more times a member is thanked the better he looks in others eyes as to the effectiveness of his replies in threads.

That is a great point on the no delete option. The edit; however, is quite useful even after 3 days. For long threads updating the OP or, in some cases, reusing a thread is very helpful.

I don't recall too absurd of an amount of troll threads in FS/FT. I feel like 50 post minimum would flood OT and P&N with threads where an article is quoted or something outrageous is said - there posts would merely be troll posts in the other forums.

The thanked system or rep system just becomes a pissing contest to see who can get the most regardless in my opinion. Just general intuition when reading the original post goes a lot further in my mind. A lot of us more experienced posters also have a knack for calling out trolls when they are there - even if the original post might be more subtle.

-Kevin

 

[chronodekar]

Originally posted by: Lvcoyote
A "Thanked" system is much better, the more times a member is thanked the better he looks in others eyes as to the effectiveness of his replies in threads.

I like this idea. Works for me.

 

[Lvcoyote]

Keven, the problem with a no time limit on editing is that a guy can choose to edit his post and just delete all the context..... same as deleting it basically. After 3 days the original post should be finished. If any further updates to the original post are needed you can simply add a reply in the thread, or in some cases ask a Moderator to make a change if the deadline has passed. I have used both the "Thanked" and "Rep" systems in the past, I agree the Rep system is a joke, but there is no comparison IMHO between rep and thanked. You could always try the thanked system for a trial period, but I think you will find it to be an excellent feature,

 

[Lvcoyote]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

I don't recall too absurd of an amount of troll threads in FS/FT. I feel like 50 post minimum would flood OT and P&N with threads where an article is quoted or something outrageous is said - there posts would merely be troll posts in the other forums.
-Kevin

I would rather have them post in those sections if they are going to troll. Better there than in a For Sale section which could potentially rip someone off.

 

[JDub02]

I'm with everyone else saying "no" to a rep system. I don't think anyone needs to look at a "rep" to decide whether the person contributes or is generally worthless ... those kind of things are obvious.

Not sure what's a plugin or a builtin feature, but I'd really like to keep the ability to block signatures. And if inline pictures and custom avatars are added, I'd like the ability to block them too. I browse alot from work, so I'd like to keep it as text-only as possible.

 

[chronodekar]

Originally posted by: JDub02
I'm with everyone else saying "no" to a rep system. I don't think anyone needs to look at a "rep" to decide whether the person contributes or is generally worthless ... those kind of things are obvious.

Can we consider a "thanked" system, instead? As Lvcoyote mentions, they are 2 very different things, but serve the purpose I'm asking for.

 

[SunnyD]

Don't think this is really a plug-in, but there's a few features I'd like, particularly for FS/FT.

#1 - Please ensure the PM system works similar to what FuseTalk has. vB's PM system SUCKS - you have to leave the thread to go into a user's profile in order to send a PM. The current FT system of being able to click on the PM button and having a Send Private Message window popup is much nicer - as it allows me to easily cut/paste from the thread into the PM window.

#2 - Allow users to lock their own threads (specifically for FS/FT, can leave this option off for everything else). There's nothing more annoying then coming into old bumped threads looking for something, only to find the seller has moved on and requested it be locked, but it nearly never is.

#3 - Inline images OR image attachments (again, JUST for FS/FT). I would vote for either only if they could be artificially limited to a thumbnail resolution in the post with a clickthru to the full size image. As Hardforums demonstrates - full-sized images suck.

 

[XeoBllaze]

I SAY RANK PICTURES based on time/posts

 

[cliftonite]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Yep, let's shield kids from reality....

Even if your insane system was implemented, how would you screen people? Ask them for a background check? You wouldn't really be able to prove someone's age....

If you send an PM to a Mod then you are saying you are of age. It isn't anyone's job here on these forums to ensure people are not lying to get around restrictions.

Shield them from reality!?!? There is no way a 13 year old middle school student should be reading content like that! I'm nearly 21 and in college and I think a lot of the topics in L&R are inappropriate (I don't frequent the forum though so I can't give many examples).

-Kevin

Then what's the point of having to PM a mod? It would be utterly useless since everyone and anyone could do it. You wouldn't be "protecting the minds of the innocent". Plus, this is the internet, if they were curious enough to click on the L&R forum (as I said before, with its good advice for topics of all parts of relationships), they could be curious enough to browse Google pictures without the filter!

If they shouldn't be reading that content, their parents should be control freaks and install content filters in their routers/computers to protect their children from sex.

How many people do you think frequent that forum?! There isn't many at all - everyone wouldn't do it - someone who honestly needed advice on that explicit material would go through that.

L&R should have a main forum (ie: Normal topics, relationship advice) and a sub-forum with the more explicit material.

To access that sub-forum PM a mod or do something of that nature. It will dissuade the younger groups from going through the trouble of seeing all that.

I certainly wouldn't want a 13 year old reading through the thread I linked to. That is absurd and ignorant to say that you wouldn't mind a small child reading that!

-Kevin

Its fine the way it is. Parents should be responsible for what their children are reading not AT.

 

[manlymatt83]

Originally posted by: ghost recon88
OP ability to lock their own thread.

Yes to this

No to reputation system - no way it will work.

 

[newnameman]

No to being able to lock/delete one's own thread. No to any sort of rep system. No to a time limit on editing posts.

 

[MedicBob]

Yes to locking your own, but no rep/ranking system including post count.

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: newnameman
No to being able to lock/delete one's own thread. No to any sort of rep system. No to a time limit on editing posts.

I don't see how any of these would work.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Don't think this is really a plug-in, but there's a few features I'd like, particularly for FS/FT.

#1 - Please ensure the PM system works similar to what FuseTalk has. vB's PM system SUCKS - you have to leave the thread to go into a user's profile in order to send a PM. The current FT system of being able to click on the PM button and having a Send Private Message window popup is much nicer - as it allows me to easily cut/paste from the thread into the PM window.

Middle click to open in a new tab.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Don't think this is really a plug-in, but there's a few features I'd like, particularly for FS/FT.

#1 - Please ensure the PM system works similar to what FuseTalk has. vB's PM system SUCKS - you have to leave the thread to go into a user's profile in order to send a PM. The current FT system of being able to click on the PM button and having a Send Private Message window popup is much nicer - as it allows me to easily cut/paste from the thread into the PM window.

Middle click to open in a new tab.

Assuming you have a middle mouse button/wheel. And that still defeats the purpose somewhat... I like to see the original thread as I'm typing the reply just as I am now. The vBulletin way is just craptastic.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Locut0s
-I believe it was mentioned that inline photo posting will be added.

I'm completely and totally against this.

 

[Born2bwire]

No to reps.

No to locking/deleting own thread.

Yes to "report post."

Yes to the button that allows me to stab people from across the internet.

Yes to custom sigs and avatars but no pictures in the sigs.

Another thing I've seen in a vBulletin forum was that they had a "goto" button for the posts that were quoted. So you could click on a quote and be brought to that post.

 

[bond007taz]

Originally posted by: vortix
How about RSS feeds? (or is this included in vB out of the box?)

second that...

 

[Syran]

Could you include mobile themes (and maybe a detector for mobile devices). Using boards from a blackberry can be difficult at best for me a lot of the time.
No on Rep, no on deleting threads.
Definitely think the OP should be able to lock their own thread.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: MedicBob
Yes to locking your own, but no rep/ranking system including post count.

Amen. Definite no to rep/ranking as that would be abused by the children. And there is no forum on earth that would not be improved by removing the post counts. Take away counts and rankings and you take away the incentive to nef. The signal-to-noise ratio would improve dramatically.

 

[Dualist]

Features that are needed/excluded:

1) Disable the rep system - it can easily lead to abuse and the rep level doesn't reflect the user overall, and can lead to heavy criticism. Very likely a user will give another user a negative rep for a post that is actually good.

It's the quality of an OP's posts that really defines a user, and not just based on rep.

2) Portal page - to see what's trendy and new on the forums (latest new members, posts, topics, top posters, forum news, etc.)

3) Social bookmarking to add material to online social sites

4) Search engine friendly skin and SEO friendly links (to boost site traffic and ranking)

5) Post limit for a certain usergroup to access other forums (additional security)

6) Disallow multiple accounts, if there's an exception list.

 

[JJChicken]

Originally posted by: Syran
Could you include mobile themes (and maybe a detector for mobile devices). Using boards from a blackberry can be difficult at best for me a lot of the time.
No on Rep, no on deleting threads.
Definitely think the OP should be able to lock their own thread.

There is an at mobile site that is really good, use that for now

 

[antok86]

make the forum not so white....

 

[sao123]

Keep the forum professional looking above all!

NO to deleting your posts. You can lock your own posts.

NO inline pics. Limit the avatars and smileys to a small collection of acceptable ones, much like AT is today. No pictures in signatures.

NO REP SYSTEM. All that will happen is that it will become a pissing contest to see who can get the highest or lowest rep.

No ignoring users; however, ignoring certain forums is a good idea.

Lots of different color schemes to choose from.

Finally, a working WYSIWYG code editor for the programming forum.

 

[Spacehead]

Being able to directly link to a certain post in a thread is useful.


About the pics in posts & sigs. I'm not a big fan of it but as long as you can turn them off. The bad thing about that though is if you read the forums while not logged in everything shows up.